Capone is born again after reading (and bearing witness to) THE BOOK OF ELI!!!

Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
I've poured over all of the possible synonyms for the first word that popped into my brain to describe the long-overdue new movie from The Hughes Brothers (FROM HELL, DEAD PRESIDENTS, MEANCE II SOCIETY, AMERICAN PIMP), but nothing quite does it justice. So I'll just say it: THE BOOK OF ELI is a cool movie. It's not a great movie; it's far from a masterpiece. But it is unabashedly cool, and I don't use that word often. But when you combine one of the coolest American actors of his generation and pit him against one of the coolest British actors ever and then throw in Tom Waits in a supporting part, well, that math lands you squarely at Cool.
The weirdest thing of all is that the more religion this movie injected into its original story by screenwriter Gary Whitta, the more I dug it. The filmmakers have crafted a desolate, desperate, stark world to wage this new kind of Holy War. I got completely caught up witnessing Denzel Washington's stoic brand of heroism and Gary Oldman's spitfire take on Carnegie, the one-eyed king in a morally blind society that exists after either God or man ripped a hole in the sky decades earlier and torched most of the earth, leaving only a few survivors. The gift of reading has pretty much disappeared, and only a few of the oldest inhabitants of our planet still know how to read a book. Eli (Washington) is a crusader, a man walking east to west to deliver a book because a voice told him it was the right thing to do years earlier. Any hints of civilization have turned into ugly, slightly radioactive Wild West towns, with trading posts (wet naps apparently fetch a high price), bars, whores, and the occasional gunfight. Oldman runs one particular such community, and he's desperately searching for a particular book that he believes will finally bring some order to his way of life.
Eli is also a fighter extraordinaire, and more than once we see him take out a dozen aggressors in seconds. And the blood doth flow. It turns out that Eli possesses the very book Carnegie has been searching for--a bible. Carnegie fully believes in the power of religion to tame the savagery of his corner of the world, and no scenery goes gleefully unchewed as he sets out to prove that. And I'll admit, as much as he overplays the part, it's fun to watch Oldman cut loose like he used to in films like SID & NANCY, STATE OF GRACE, DRACULA, TRUE ROMANCE, LEON THE PROFESSIONAL, OR THE FIFTH ELEMENT. This is classic, out-of-his-cage Oldman, and I've missed him.
Not to take anything away from Washington, who gives us a portrait of this sensitive assassin doing what he believes to be God's work by taking the book to the West. Along the way, he meets up with Mila Kunis' Solara, who Oldman gives Eli as a gift on his first night in town, but he ends up taking her on as an apprentice of sorts. Her mother, Claudia (Jennifer Beals, still beautiful), is Carnegie's ill-treated lady, who wants nothing more than her daughter to get as far away from their living conditions as possible. Carnegie's muscle is Redridge, played by Ray Stevenson (from PUNISHER: WAR ZONE and "Rome"), who brings a touch of unexpected nobility to his role. And the aforementioned Mr. Waits is a trader with a fabulous mane of hair and a detailed outlook on the way things work 'round these parts. The weirdness continues deep into the film when Eli and Solara run into an elderly couple (named George and Martha, Michael Gambon and Frances de la Tour) living in and protecting their solitary home.
But it was the religious aspect of THE BOOK OF ELI that intrigued me the most. Carnegie is the smartest person in this movie; Eli is the most driven. Hell, if Carnegie wasn't so blatantly evil, we might actually be rooting for him to help stop all of the terrible things that are happening every day in this place. His reasoning is sound, even if his methods are despicable. Eli's dark and mysterious demeanor wore on me after a while, especially when you find out that his story and secrets aren't so shocking. Still, the Hughes Brothers have created something awesome, from the almost black-and-white look of the movie to the clear tributes to the MAD MAX movies, A BOY AND HIS DOG, and several other post-apocalyptic works. But they make it all the more fascinating by turning an experiment in working religion into a geek-friendly environment, in a largely respectful way. Even at its most outrageous, THE BOOK OF ELI still held my interest and made me increasingly curious where this fairly simple story would take us. And I never could have predicted where this tale ends up. January releases continue to impress me, and this maybe most of all.
-- Capone
therealcapone@aintitcoolmail.com
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I don't know how Mr. Washington manages to maintain his level of stardom and power in Hollywood. He's made so many either mediocre or downright shit movies. He needs to cut all ties with Tony Scott. Together they just coast. 'Crimson Tide' was good, but that seems like a lifetime ago. 'Man On Fire' had its moments, but was ruined by its editing.

Thanks for the review. This looks and feels like Fallout 3 the video game would look if brought to the big screen. I would love to see that on the big screen as long as they didn't go the Doom route. Excited to see this movie. Love to see Denzel playing a Bad Ass like in "man on fire".

Don't knock yourself out over The Road. It's not very good. It's poorly structured and I think they should have gone for the jugular and altered the ending to McCarthy's book. Remove any possibility of hope. Save the happy endings for Emmerich movies. I was really disappointed.

I'm sure it's got issues if it's generated this little fanfare since it's release. I'd still like to see it though. I loved the book and Viggo can do no wrong. Thanks for the review though. Makes me feel better that I have to wait for dvd.

First of all..the movie sucks. Religious themes or not CAPONE did you not notice that Mila couldn't hold one scene together without looking like she was trying to hold in a fart? And Denzel being blind but able to shoot guys with arrows and off of rooftops with a piston? Total bullshit. Oh...and what about the reiligous themes you so adore??!! Whil Capone is intriqued with the placement of "religious-ness" in the movies he doesn't mention the contradiction of Eli cutting peoples heads off for GOD??? Total dung pile.

You're all just taking everything at face value. Sure, the "coveted item" might be a bible, but who's to say that means that, in the context of the movie, the bible ACTUALLY IS worth anything? I smell a plot in which the bible is a mere MacGuffin, and at the end Denzel dies protecting it, Oldman gets his hands on it and reads it, only to realize it's a worthless book of mostly made-up stories. Cut to Mila Kunis making some off-character remark about the value of hope and faith, and mankind's need to have SOMETHING to strive for. I'll probably check out a matinee showing today, though, so we'll see.

...Denzel can always be counted on to deliver. Always did like his supernatural thriller "Fallen". I'm very interested to see where this goes. Christianity is usually the whipping boy in modern films and, being Christian myself, hope to see something a bit more affirming here. I know Denzel is Christian himself, so it should be an interesting watch.

I know how Mr. Washington manages to maintain his level of stardom and power in Hollywood. He's made so many movies. He needs to keep all ties with Tony Scott. Together they just rule. 'Crimson Tide' was good. 'Man On Fire' had its moments, I really liked its editing.

I saw the movie at the same preview and felt like my face was being rubbed in the religious aspects. It was too overtly religious. Washing was almost made into a apostle or Jesus like character. I was surprised when he didn't die and come back to life 3 days later. Religious overtones are fine in movies, but they should be subtle. This felt like Fox News trying to make Jesus with with an action movie.

Would you be so non-chalant if the last copy of a religious text was The Koran and the hero was trying to bring religon back to the people by having them accept The Toran as the recepient of The Truth and the very word of the True God?

element. In the film only a few survivors remember what the 'Bible' is. Books are scarce and much of the population is young and illiterate. Also, the Bible was targeted as the cause of whatever conflict ignited the war, so people owning one would be punishable by death. The film is about 'faith' not 'dogma'. It's NOT a religious film.

This movie looks, as Capone put it, VERY COOL! The fact that so many people seem to have an innate bias against it simply because the protagonist seems to be a Christian and the fought-over prize: a Bible, simply reveals them as small-minded bigots, rather than reflecting on the quality of the movie, itself.

I didn't suggest that it would be, I was merely saying that "the holy book" Eli is protecting could turn out to be a twist much like the revelation in 'Zardoz'. In other words, he's protecting, for example, 'The Wizard of Oz' or 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'.

I certainly didn't know that about Denzel's character. and I've seen all the trailers and read a few reviews. <p>the fact is, he revealed it just to be a fucking prick, and I'm surprised it's still up here. usually AICN is faster in deleting moronic shit like that.

I can't help it if you retards don't keep up with the details of the movie....my review was posted like 4 months ago and it stands to reason that my opinion hasn't changed. Completely fucking worthless movie except for the two Denzel sword-fight scenes. Suck my balls and wait for the cream-filled surprise you dainty little girls!! ha.

yeah, as you can see, he's just a prick who wants attention. and his review was posted 4 months ago? where? on his mom's blog? <p>Capone's review didn't mention the spoiler, nor did Harry's, OR Massawyrms. Or ANY OTHER LEGITIMATE REVIEWER for that matter. <p>only morons like Cshores who just get off on negative attention would think it was fair game.

I have only posted on AintitCool maybe 8 times in the past 10 years. So I don't need attention you little twat. I was here before you were a scratch in your midget father's diapers. So to say I am bidding for attention is more retarded than your dimwited sister. The review was COMPLETELY spoiler FREE. But dipsticks like some of you brain-fart geek-boys are don't understand that the movie is completely unbelieveable on most ever level. Kind of like I can't believe you can type. So...with that I will say...I am not trying to get attention, don't need attention and have giving an opinion based on total facts. If you don't like it...go back to K-mart and start bagging groceries again. OH...one more thing. The bible is in braille too! You bitchweeds!!!!

you must be a sad little kid.<p>what review are you even talking about? "your" review? why would we have seen that?<p>and you realize that spoiling movies for other people just to get attention is truly, truly, pathetic.<p>your teachers must hate you. your the kid that smells like pee and throws the basketball over the fence because you can't dribble.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42652
Don't hack on me because my grammar may be lacking. It was my first review and I tried not to give away any spoilers. I was so pissed when I wrote it that I even called Capone to see if it was too harsh. He said just post what you feel. So I did. NOW...I am not trying to make any enemies....but TRUST ME WHEN I SAY this... the MOVIE IS BAD! So in actuality I am doing you all a favor by saving you the 20 or so bucks it would cost to go see this dump pile. I am not wanting to make up your minds but trying to guide you to a better way to spend your movie-loving time. Rent it....trust me.

I apologize for those who desired to see this heap and I ruined the "surprise". The movie that Capone, Harry and Mass. saw may was either re-edited, re-shot and re-acted or they are giving reviews to maintain a relationship with "some entity". The movie is retarded.

There's no integrity to most of these so-called 'reviews'. And make no mistake, the book of Eli is heavily derivative of The Road Warrior, Zaitochi, and The Road.<p>Yackbacker - please. When Capone omitted Avatar from his top 30, it was a contrivance, nothing more, just like Mr Beak's fraudulent posturing. Worthy of respect? Come off it. Worthy of a kick up the ass, more like.

I'll tell you what happened to the Road:
It was anemic, hamfisted and trite. What was profound and moving on the page of the book ended up being pretentious and stolid on the screen. But it is an interesting failure. It doesn't have anything to do with it being too heavy for an audience, it has to do with the movie not being nearly as good as it should have been.